Two principal types of conventional cones are known: molded cones and rolled or sugar cones. Molded cones are produced by baking the batter in a mold that determines the final shape of the cone. The finished cone is removed as a largely dry and form stable product having brittle characteristics.
Rolled cones are produced by baking the batter between flat baking molds and immediately afterwards shaping the still hot wafer sheet into its final cone shape. The batter is first dosed onto the baking base plate, then the cover baking plate is closed. During closing, the batter gets spread out between the plates into the final form of the wafer sheet. After the baking process, the plates are opened again to remove the baked wafer sheet. Right after opening the baking plates, the wafer sheet is still hot but also flexible and can be shaped without breaking into a cone shape. Shaping is done by rolling the sheets around a conical tool where the cone cools down quickly and solidifies, resulting in a largely dry and form stable product also having brittle characteristics.
To the skilled artisan it is known that sugar plays an important role in manufacturing rolled cones. While molded cones come out of the baking process in their final shape as a brittle product, the rolled cones are flexible and can be shaped during a short period of time until they cool down and solidify.
The flexibility of the rolled cones are due to their high sugar content. In the still hot wafer sheet, the sugar is liquid or plastic thus giving the wafer sheet its plasticity. Upon cooling, the plasticity is lost and the wafer sheet solidifies into the shape given.
If the sugar content in the rolled cones is too low, the wafer sheet has not enough flexibility to be shaped. Such a wafer sheet is very brittle and will break apart when it is rolled into the cone shape.
This is the fundamental difference between molded cones and rolled cones: molded cones need a low sugar content and come out of the mold in the final shape as a brittle product, whereas rolled cones need a high sugar content to have flexibility to be shaped by rolling as long as the sugar is in a liquid or plastic state.
Another consequence of the sugar content concerns the color. It is well known that the sugar in the wafer turns brown during baking. Whereas molded cones develop only a light brown or almost white color during baking, due to their low sugar content, rolled cones develop a darker brown color during baking due to their high sugar content.
The experts in the field are well aware that an almost white colored rolled cone cannot be produced from the ingredients normally used in cone baking, since the low sugar content required for the light color would not provide sufficient flexibility for rolling. If a wafer sheet is underbaked, i.e., baked at a too low temperature, the browning reaction of the sugar is less pronounced but the baking result is not sufficient. Such wafer sheets are still wet and do not solidify after rolling due to their high residual water content.
U.S. patent application No. 2002/0150663 describes a formulation, in which the sugar has been replaced by a polyol (erythritol or xylitol), in order to reduce the caloric value of the cone. The patent application describes that these sugar replacers act as a plasticizer in a way similar to sugar. However, it is mentioned that these cones show no browning reaction, i.e. the wafer sheet has a mostly white appearance. Such cones, as mentioned in the patent application, can be colored, as a whole, to achieve a natural looking color or any other color desired.
The application of color in the manufacturing of cones is quite common. A widespread practice is the addition of color such as caramel color to enhance the natural color of the cone or improve the color homogeneity. Also other colors are used sometimes to create cones with, e.g. a reddish or blue tone. However, for rolled cones, these added color tones always mix with the brown color resulting from the browning of the sugar. A mostly white color cannot be created using a standard recipe, since the browning of the sugar already establishes a dark base tone.
It is known to experts in the field that a two color cone can be produced by dosing simultaneously onto the baking plate both a regular batter and a batter that contains added color, e.g. caramel color. The result is a cone that contains patches of the regular batter and other patches containing the colored batter. The distribution of the different colors is determined by the spreading pattern that is created when the baking plates are closed and the batter becomes spread between them. Using this technique, the color distribution and pattern created is poorly controlled and the designs that can be achieved are limited.
Therefore, there is no known way to make colored rolled cones without sugar or sugar replacers. A sugarless dough would not be considered for making rolled cones since a sugarless dough would create brittle areas in the wafer sheet that would obstruct proper rolling into a cone shape. Accordingly, the resulting baked rolled cone products made from a regular sugar wafer batter recipe, are not fully satisfactory when different colors in the cones are desired. Thus, the present invention is designed to provide a process and product which achieves these features and remedies the deficiencies of the prior art.